100 years ago, 1917
Work will be commenced at once on installing the fire alarm system at Lisbon. The work will be in charge of T. C. Strout and Joseph Levesque of the Electric Light Co. Fifteen instruments will be installed and two call stations, one at engine hall and the one at the corner of Main and Farwell streets at Deschene’s store.

50 years ago, 1967
An interesting item on early fire alarm systems in Lewiston was found recently by Deputy Chief Clarence Penley of the Auburn Fire Department while doing research on the department as part of a 100-year history of the City of Auburn. Instructions for use of the Fire Alarm Telegraph System for Key-Holders in 1880 were found by Penley in a Lewiston City report that was dated at the end of 1881. Penley turned the article over to Lewiston’s Fire Chief Roland G. Dumais. The instructions read as follows: “Key-holders upon positive information of a fire will unlock the box, and if the City Hall bell is not striking, or the small bell in the box, pull the hook easily down to the end of the slide once, and let go immediately.”

25 years ago, 1992
If Lewiston opts to keep 34 tax-acquired acres on No Name Pond, the public could for the first time have public access to the pond. The water is safe for swimming, according to Development Director Robert Thompson. The possibility of public access there surfaced during a joint-meeting Tuesday between the Planning Board and the Land Committee. City staff were giving members a first look at some of the city’s tax-acquired properties.

The material in Looking Back is reproduced exactly as it originally appeared, although misspellings and errors made at that time may be edited.